Since the age of 12 i’ve been fascinated by Horror films though it was not until I started making music/sound art that I realised why. I am not overly impressed by the gore and misogyny/misanthropy so much as I am drawn to the soundtracks of horror and terror, which inspire an almost metaphysical reverie.

Between the years 1999-2007 I produced a number of experimental radio shows on 4ZZZ 102.1FM in Brisbane. In order to avoid the monotony of bland DJ tracklist reproduction I would often use my laptop and Audiomulch software to mix and mash tracks with a variety of sound effect cds.

Having collected the results it became clear to me that my manipulations and choices were working perpetually towards a form of plotless abstract horror soundscape. Here then is a directors cut of sorts, newly remixed to form an almost seamless scape of ancient mysteries and unknowable terror.

I have to thank The Tonight Show with Conan O’brien for introducing me to this dulcet duo. They were performing live and vocalist Glen Hansard’s warm voice in a bluesy ballad called Low Rising seemed awfully palatable to my sensibilities, so I immediately acquired their full album. The album is strong, even though Low Rising remains the most tuneful piece on it. I read that Hansard was the founder of an Irish indie band The Frames and The Swell Season is more of a side project for him and his former girlfriend, Czech pianist Markéta Irglová. They apparently won an Oscar for Best Original Song from the 2007 musical drama Once. Strict Joy is the third studio LP they’ve released together. Markéta can be heard singing lead on a couple of tracks…

I'm exactly one year on last.fm today (yay), so I thought I should sum up a bit. What's changed? Not much, I've listened to an insane amount of music, found other nice people who listen to insane amounts of music and I subscribed. So yeah, this is growing into some kind of addiction.

There's really no need to go into Hans too much here. He's probably the main reason why I listen to this sick amount of film scores today and yes, I'm kinda obsessed with him (see other journal entries) :D I love him for that epic masculine sound he keeps on creating in his scores and to be honest, I listen to guilty pleasures like The Peacemaker far more often than to the scores I'm gonna list here as my top 4. They are pieces of art to be enjoyed at special times only :)